Growth
The big H2O transfer
The demand for water has driven up the value of Middle Rio Grande water rights more than tenfold in the last 20 years, and landowners are cashing out in what appear to be record numbers. But even as water transfers speed up, so has opposition from farmers and pueblos alike. In recent months the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has chimed in over concern for the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow.
The hidden costs of a 'maquiladora'
Last week ground was broken on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez in what is set to be Mexico's largest 'maquiladora'. The Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn started construction in Jeronimo, Chihuaha on a facility that will eventually span 500 acres with more than 1.2 million square feet of structures and employ 30,000 people. Foxconn is one of the largest manufacturers of computer components and electronics worldwide.
NM Board of Finance postpones vote on new rules to clarify growth
The New Mexico Board of Finance voted unanimously today to postpone a vote until its September 16th meeting on a new rule to guide them when they consider creating a Tax Increment Development District.
Board of Finance Director Olivia Padilla-Jackson told the Independent the vote was postponed in order to give the Board time to review and consider the large number of comments received, which came from a wide range of non-profit organizations and for-profit development groups, as well as local city and county politicians.
Clarifying incentives for growth
How New Mexico goes about allocating big chunks of state tax revenue to so-called Tax Increment Development Districts (TIDDs) may soon be given some much-needed clarity. The New Mexico Board of Finance will vote on proposed rules Tuesday that would provide more guidelines for evaluation when they consider applications by developers to reserve years worth of future gross receipts tax (GRT) revenue for their projects. The use of TIDDs sometimes generates controversy over the tax revenue that’s lost and the growth they incentivize.
Mining reform: Will it occur this year?
With the 2008 Senate calendar winding down, opponents and proponents of mining reform are anxiously waiting to see if the stalemate in the Senate Energy and Resources Committee over the bill, headed by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and ranking member Pete Domenici (R-NM), can be overcome. The reform would establish hardrock mining royalties, add stricter environmental standards and would give local communities the right to deny a mining project in their immediate area.
The new boom towns
From the Washington Independent
The steep hike in gas and energy prices has created a national debate about the future of American metropolitan areas. But in many of the nation’s strongest regional economies, $5 a gallon gas is less a threat than a boon. From Houston and Midland in Texas, to a score of cities across the Great Plains, today’s energy crisis is creating new wealth and new jobs in a way not seen since, well, the energy crisis of the 1970s.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Tamalewood is attracting Bollywood.
Tamalewood is attracting Bollywood. New Mexico Business Weekly says the signature song and dance cinematic style will be coming to New Mexico. Roshan, a major star in his native India, will be bringing the production of "Kites" to the area.
A Silver City judge's recent decision that new household water wells cannot impinge on a neighbor's water is rippling through the state, creating the potential to drive up rural home prices, dry up agricultural land and cause a major political dust-up in Santa Fe.
Albuquerque city officials are hoping to spur New Mexico's tourism sector in a major way through the development of a downtown event center that would include a 12,000 seat arena and a new hotel. But with a price tag projected at close to $400 million, much of it potentially coming from taxpayers, the project and the process are already coming under strong criticism.
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish sees New Mexico's future depends on its "educonomy." That's where education meets economic development, and it's where the state has often fallen short of expectations, she said during a recent meeting with business and community leaders, educators and many youth from around the state.
Officials from Doña Ana and Sierra counties are asserting their authority to control a board that oversees tax money from their counties set aside for the construction of Spaceport America. Under the proposal, each county will appoint two members to the board that oversees the funneling of gross-receipts-tax money to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. Both counties have approved a 1/4 percent increase in the gross-receipts tax to help fund the spaceport.
The head of Santa Fe's city union remains under investigation for supplying the drug OxyContin in a drug sale, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Manny Aragon's luck has changed, at least momentarily. The tainted former state senator awaiting trial for public-corruption and conspiracy charges won a new sports car at the Isleta Resort and Casino's grand opening, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
According to The Associated Press, Greenpeace has been denied entrance to the 2008 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. The organization had planned to fly their Earth balloon, which reads "Stop Global Warming, Save the Climate," but their application was denied by fiesta officials.
Water worries
Contrary view
How is New Mexico's `Educonomy?'
"I'm tired of hearing that our best and brightest students had to leave the state to get the kinds of jobs they want," she said. "I'm tired of hearing from business leaders who say they can't bring their type of industry to our state because there are not enough college graduates or trained workers to hire. We have to do something so that we are ready for the future."
Counties assert control over spaceport
The proposal has been approved by Sierra County commissioners and will be voted on by commissioners in Doña Ana County on July 22. The agreement needs only the approval of Doña Ana County to become official.
It isn’t what the state wanted. The Spaceport Authority originally proposed that the state have majority control of the board. That isn’t allowed by state law, so the Spaceport Authority came up with a second proposal that would have allowed the state to appoint two of four members of the taxing-district board. That proposal would have allowed each county to appoint one member.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: Rio Rancho knocks off Santa Fe as 3rd-largest city
Rio Rancho has surpassed Santa Fe as the state's third-largest city. Quoting U.S. Census Bureau figures released this week, the Albuquerque Journal said Albuquerque and Las Cruces still hold the top two spots, but Rio Rancho has usurped Santa Fe's number three slot and could surpass Las Cruces by 2010.
Rains and minor flooding have been in the news across the state, including Las Cruces, where a one-day downpour was triple the amount the city has received for the entire year, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports. The paper said sandbags were selling at a premium, if you can find them.
The body count continued to rise in Juarez, surpassing the 500 mark, as eight new slayings and a buried body came to light, all believed related to Mexico's narcotics wars.
Off-road enthusiasts have vowed to fight a federal plan that would close to motorized vehicles about half the roads in the Santa Fe National Forest, while supporters say it's a "victory for quiet recreation," the Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting.
Organizers of Roswell's 2008 UFO Festival say the event was huge success that brought higher occupancy to the city's hotels than last year's fest, according to the Roswell Daily Record.
Want to talk about Galisteo Basin drilling? Santa Fe County is listening.
Santa Fe County, making use of the governor's six-month moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Galisteo Basin to come up with a management plan and ordinances for possible drilling, is holding a series of "listening sessions" to hear public concerns early next week.
Meanwhile, a number of state agencies have recommended that Gov. Bill Richardson extend by at least another six months the moratorium that ends July 24, saying more information is needed to fully assess the impact oil and gas drilling will have on "the unique cultural, archaeological and environmental assets in the region."
Santa Fe County has been working since early this year to come up with county oil and gas ordinances and a management plan, and in the process has brought in both legal and planning experts from out of state to help.
Does Albuquerque need an arena?
What do you think about the proposed arena for downtown Albuquerque? In official parlance, the "downtown events center" would include an arena, convention center expansion, and a new hotel. And just last month, the City Council allocated $700,000 for an impact study of the idea.
This project would change the landscape of downtown Albuquerque dramatically. We're talking bigger and denser.
Shadow over solar
Large-scale solar power plants -- ideally suited for states like New Mexico -- are "straining to burst onto the Southwest utility scene," in the words of one expert testifying at a U.S. Senate hearing on solar energy Wednesday. But without an immediate eight-year extension of the 30 percent federal investment tax credit, the concentrating solar power industry, or CSP, will be "stopped dead in its tracks."
Domenici's staffer blames wilderness group for lost opportunity
Steve Bell, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici's chief of staff, had hoped the retiring Republican senator could travel to Las Cruces during his last months in office to celebrate a compromise that had protected hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Doña Ana County. But that won't happen, Bell said in an interview, and he blames the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance for the missed opportunity.
Tesla to NM: Hasta la vista, baby
A California electric car company that had promised to invest $35 million in a manufacturing plant on Albuquerque’s West Side and provide 400 high-tech jobs apparently found the grass greener in its home state. Tesla Motors announced today it would bypass Albuquerque and instead manufacture its electric sedans in the San Francisco Bay area -- leaving a group of developers here out nearly $300,000.
Our gain, their loss
The Colorado Springs Gazette is reporting that Hewlett-Packard Co. told the 800 employees of its customer service center there that they will lose their jobs unless they agree to move to the new facility planned for Rio Rancho, which should employ 1,300 by 2012. But a senior HP executive said last week that the company would hire from New Mexico to staff the Rio Rancho center. So which is it?
TODAY'S TOP STORIES: It's confirmed. Mountain lion killed man.
It’s been confirmed that a mountain lion killed a man who’s body was found near his home last week in southwestern New Mexico. This is only the second killing in New Mexico of a human by a mountain lion in modern history, with the first being the 1974 death of a young boy in Arroyo Seco, just north of Taos. Rick Winslow, a Game and Fish large carnivore biologist, told Rene Romo of the Albuquerque Journal that such killings by mountain lions are uncommon, but that “Attacks by wildlife may become more frequent as our growing population expands into the urban-wildland interface.’’
John Fleck reports for the Albuquerque Journal that most of Albuquerque didn’t curtail driving by much in April when gas prices were rapidly rising.
Steve Terrell writes for the Santa Fe New Mexican that Steve Pearce is “demanding” that Tom Udall debate him pronto on energy issues, but is being put off by the Udall campaign until the fall.
The head of the El Paso sector DEA told Jose Medina of the Las Cruces Sun-News that a drug cartel hit list with names of Americans north of the border may just be a rumor. “Nobody has substantiated it.
Riding the Railrunner
Hundreds took advantage of free rides on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express yesterday. The trains were standing-room only and filled with first-timers as well as Rail Runner vets. The same question echoed around the train cars: “Is this the first time you’ve ridden the Rail Runner?”